by Ben Horowitz
Think and Grow Rich (Hill), 117
Think Different (Apple advertising campaign), 47
Thompson, Don, 16, 157–67, 172
Thorston (LoudCloud manager), 2, 211
time: and “Coughlin Time” rule, 49–50
Time Warner, 71
Trump, Donald, 71, 92
trust
and assigning new meanings, 235–36
and bad news, 234–40
and board of director conflicts, 206, 208
breaking promises and, 206, 208
building, 37, 136
communication and, 32, 136
and culture as broken, 209
and dealing with culture breakers, 216
decision making and, 227
and designing your culture, 198
Genghis Khan culture and, 142
and long-term versus short-term thinking, 31–33
Louverture and, 31–33, 37, 42–43, 77, 78
and meritocracy and loyalty in modern world, 170
and Oprah-Senghor interview, 108, 109
and rules, 31–33
Senghor culture and, 133, 136
and walk the talk, 77, 78
and your culture, 233–42
truth. See honesty/truth; integrity; lying; trust
turning down things, 161, 165
Twitter, 184–85
two-factor authentication, 74–75
Tyson, Bernard, 177
Uber
decisions at, 232
and Louverture techniques, 16, 78–86, 87, 88–89
new ethical code at, 88–89
and samurai culture, 101
and Senghor culture, 133
Uberversity, 80–81
Uighur people, 153
unfairness: and object lessons, 212–16
unintended consequences, 118–22, 134
unions, 169–70, 171
United States
French relations with, 29–30
slavery in, 29–30
values
definition of, 13, 91
and designing your culture, 190
leadership and, 36–38, 135–36
and making ethics explicit, 79–85, 89
and samurai culture, 91
and Senghor culture, 134
at Uber, 79–80
virtues compared with, 134
and walk the talk, 36–38
and who you are and what you do, 1–2, 18
your culture and, 246
See also specific value
Vaublanc, Vincent de, 28
venture capitalists, and samurai culture, 98–100
veracity: and samurai culture, 95, 97–98
Verizon, 170
virtues
and actions, 190, 197
defining, 95–98
definition of, 13
and designing your culture, 186, 189–90, 196–99
effectiveness of, 196–99
employees as testing, 197–99
and mission, 186
and samurai culture, 13, 91, 95–98
and selection of employees, 189–90
and Senghor culture, 134
uniqueness of, 197
values compared with, 134
and your culture, 233–44, 246
See also specific virtue
Visions for Black Men (Akbar), 117
VMware, 51–52
volunteer work, 176
voodoo, 30–31
walk the talk
and being yourself, 184, 185
and designing your culture, 184, 185
Genghis Khan culture and, 150
and leadership, 36–38
Louverture tactics and, 36–38, 71–78
and stories defining culture, 104
and trust, 77, 78
and your culture, 245–46
Wall Street Journal, 50
Walmart, 11, 69
war: and Genghis Khan culture, 145–46
warriors. See bushido; samurai; Senghor, Shaka
wartime decisions, 229–32
Waymo division (Alphabet), 81–82
Weatherford, Jack, 142–43, 148–49, 152–53
Welch, Jack, 181, 182
Western Union, 11
What Happened (Clinton), 74, 76
what you do
and creating a culture, 15–18
and culture as strong force, 5–12
and designing your culture, 194–96
importance of, 194–96
and inclusion, 178
is who you are, 1–18
and samurai culture, 91
as universal element of strong culture, 194–96
and what makes a culture work, 12–15
and who you are, 18, 91, 178
and your culture, 245
See also actions; behavior
what you say: and your culture, 245
whistle-blower policy, 64–65
White, James. See Senghor, Shaka
who you are
changing, 126
and creating a culture, 15–18
and culture as infectious, 130–31
and culture as strong force, 5–12
as fundamental organization question, 18
and inclusion, 178
and samurai culture, 91
and what makes a culture work, 12–15
and what you do, 1–18, 91, 178
why?
do the right thing, 101–3
ethics and, 87, 89
importance of emphasizing, 89
as programming culture, 32–33
of rules, 32–33, 49, 50, 51, 211, 245
and samurai culture, 101–3
and shocking rules, 211, 245
Wikipedia, 11
Wilderotter, Maggie, 16, 167–72
Winfrey, Oprah, 107–9
winning: and ethics, 87
Wired, 46
Wizard of Oz problems, 63
“wolf” culture, 85–86
Wolfe, Tom, 8, 9
women
in Chinese culture, 212–15
and inclusion, 174, 175–76, 177
killing, 212–15
and resetting culture, 212–15
See also specific person
work: as meaningful, 95
Work from home rule, 55–56
Wozniak, Steve, 46
Xerox, 228
Yahoo!, 55–56
“yellow lines,” 86
Yesugei (father of Genghis Khan), 140, 141
your culture
and assigning new meanings, 235–38
and bad news, 234–41, 242
characteristics of, 233
checklist for, 244–46
designing, 179–99, 244, 246
and edge cases, 200–211
and employees, 234–45
as evolving/changing, 5, 233
first impressions of, 244–45
goal of, 246
identifying, 179–80, 222
leadership and, 235–36, 245, 246
loyalty and, 242–44
and object lessons, 211–16, 245
and personality, 233
strategy and, 233, 244
and trust, 233–42
and values, 246
and virtues, 233–44, 246
walk the talk and, 245–46
what you do and, 245
what you say and, 245
See also specific topic
YouTube, 69
Zhengfei, Ren, 86
Zuckerberg, Mark, 54–55
About the Author
Ben Horowitz is a cofounder and general partner at Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), a venture capital firm that invests in entrepreneurs building the next generation of leading technology companies. He is also the author of the New York Times bestseller The Hard Thing About Hard Things. Prior to a16z, Horowitz was cofounder and CEO of Opsware (formerly LoudCloud), which was acquired by Hewlett-Packard for $1.6 billion in 2007. Horowitz has an MS in computer science
from UCLA and a BA in computer science from Columbia University. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area with his wife and three children.
Discover great authors, exclusive offers, and more at hc.com.
Also by Ben Horowitz
The Hard Thing About Hard Things
Copyright
what you do is who you are. Copyright © 2019 by Ben Horowitz. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
first edition
Cover design by Andrea Guinn
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Horowitz, Ben, 1966– author.
Title: What you do is who you are / Ben Horowitz.
Description: First Edition. | New York : HarperBusiness, [2019] | Summary: “Keynote Straight talk and advice on building and running a startup from Ben Horowitz, one of Silicon Valley’s most respected voices”— Provided by publisher.
Identifiers: LCCN 2019012403 | ISBN 9780062871336 (hardcover)
Subjects: LCSH: New business enterprises. | Corporate culture. | Leadership.
Classification: LCC HD62.5 .H64797 2019 | DDC 658.1/1—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2019012403
Digital Edition OCTOBER 2019 ISBN: 978-0-06-287134-3
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